The banner “ACEITUNAS Y ENCURTIDOS LLORENS” does not only represent our business name or trademark. It symbolises our family’s activity over almost 100 years: the development of the culinary art of dressing olives without forgetting the secrets of tradition. A knowledge and a passion inherited from our forefathers and treasured till our days to satisfy and delight the discerning palate.

A family history going back such a long way has provided us with the experience necessary to know in detail every aspect of the process of dressing olives, a fruit whose nutritious generosity and potential variety of flavours require the greatest care from its flowering to its final tasting.

Every year at LLORENS’ OLIVES & PICKLES we start off by carefully looking for the best olive groves, an endeavour in which we put every effort since good-quality olives are the very heart and core of our company. During each picking season we visit the best olive growers, those who thoroughly keep watch on and take care of their olive trees from the pruning to the picking. We study their groves and choose those that surpass the high standards in colour, hardness, size and health shared by all the products of LLORENS’ OLIVES & PICKLES.

Our company offers a wide range of olive types, as well as a great variety of pickles. If we had to choose one of the former to represent the spirit of enterprise and handcraft of this family project, we would certainly select the cuquillo olive. This small fruit constitutes the foundations of our company and the source of our deepest pride. It has little in common with the more popular fruits of the olive grove: its dark and humble appearance hides an unexpected rainbow of flavours worthy of the most demanding connoisseur. Its secret lies in its being dressed by expert hands without additives or preservatives, thus maintaining the true taste and scents of the Mediterranean cuisine. A secret which is doubtless about to be discovered by a mankind increasingly aware of the importance of health, genuineness, and, of course, the pleasure of aromatic flavours.

José Diego (at the right) with his brother Ginés in a wedding cellebration..

It is quite hard to attempt a sketch of José Diego in just a few lines. He has been part of our company for more than a decade as the person in charge of maintenance, and, during all these years, he has never ceased to amaze us. He appears to be a quiet, hard-working man always concentrated on the task in hand and deep in his thoughts, but there is really much more than meets the eye…He is a genius! If José had had the chances others have had, he would certainly be a renowned figure in the world of science and the arts.

Those who, like us, are lucky enough to know him can enjoy his endless genius. If you spend some time with him you will soon find out that he has humble origins, and that his family is a true example of such concepts as honour and honesty.

José recalls with pride and longing those difficult times from which he derived so many lessons he is always willing to share. As José himself tells us, he had to start working early in life, toiling at the hardest farming tasks. On one occasion, his father, a trustworthy man and a day labourer, had the chance to change their lives since the local landlords asked him to become town councillor of Rafal, Alicante. The most powerful men in the region recognised in him a natural leader, capable of running the town. These very men, unstoppable in their determination, went even further and registered him as mayor of that town in the official records in Orihuela (the main city in that county) so as to take advantage of Ginés Diego’s charisma. When he was told, his answer went as follows: “Whoever might have taken the liberty of registering me as mayor without my consent may as well hurry to undo their deeds, since such rank implies actions which my religious principles do not approve of, which would go against my people, and which I am not willing to undertake”.

One of the most outstanding virtues of Jose’s is doubtlessly his brilliant inventiveness. He astonishes and delights us by devising unimaginable solutions with poor material resources. No problem stays unsolved; he creates his own tools and constructs objects which exist nowhere but in his mind. He designs instruments with a specific function which, nevertheless, prove useful for more general purposes. He anticipates our needs and enjoys doing so. Some of his workmates call him “Mac Guiver”, others just call him “Master”.